CBGB & THE TIN PALACE: MUSICAL NEIGHBORS

Two NYC clubs a block away from each other that nurtured new music in the '70s

One of the fun things about doing the Follow the Sound series of short videos on my You Tube channel has been to revisit historic musical sites and marvel at how close so many of them were to much other. I’ve probably recorded 80% of the pieces so far in the Village, Soho, Noho and the East Village with clubs, studios and offices a five to ten minute walk from each other. People talk about “the bad old days” of New York circa ‘70s and ‘80s, but that crazy city as fertile as any creative community in history, certainly in terms of musical experimentation and risk taking.

Nothing is more representative of that energy than the Bowery which, back in the day, was a no go zone for respectible folks as it was lined with flop houses, bucket of blood bars and all manner of disreputable character. But there was freedom in being left alone and overlooked. Musicians in rock and jazz, found welcoming homes off Bleecker Street and Bowery, making some music that became mainstream and more music that defied tradition and impacts adventurous players to this day.

CBGB is better known because of the romance around punk music and the pop stars that emerged from that dingy bar. But the Tin Palace, down the block and across the street from CBGB, was equally impact in the realm of improvisational music. I was lucky enough to attend gigs at both when I was college student/newspaer intern. Did I like or even understand what I was hearing and seeing? Not always. But being out of my comfort zone was what I needed as a young person. Seeing that there was more to the world than smooth R&B and arena rock was crucial in opening me up to new music and ideas, making me a more ambitious listener and, ultimately, a better writer.

Though recorded on different days, the two videos speak to each other. I wonder how many people caught gigs at both places on the same night?